Ships & Modules

Drakes are probably Caldari's greatest isk effective pvp ship.

Another vote for the Drake. You can either be a brick or the undisputed king of BC kiting.

Arty, buffer Ferox. Crazy but works well in a gang.

Depending on how awesome you want to be here's a couple of ideas for you.
Sorted by class:

Rokh (Blasters)
Scorpion - yes you can solo with one if you know what you are doing
Drake (obvious is too obvious)
Autocannon Ferox (because rails suck and blasters can be capped out)
Moa (blasters or rails...I prefer blasters)
Caracal... damps...mwd and kiting
Blackbird - Jamming duh and you can tank it pretty well with all those mids if you choose to play bait
Merlin split weapons system but it is a deadly and effective t1 frig
Kestrel is awesome and kills other frigs dead quickly

Best thing to do is experiment.

-Falcon
-Onyx
-Draek
-Manticore
-Basilisk
-Tengu
-To be continued...

I typcally run Falcons and Flycatchers in PvP.

Falcon works well as either a buffer cyno or just a small gang support ship.

The Flycatcher is great fun too, as is the whole Interdictor class. It doesn't have the destructive potential of the Sabre, but it's half the price and very generous on CPU.

I know that people are pushing you towards the Drake, but when you start with PvP you should start small and start cheap. You will die horribly at first unless you are very lucky or very talented. So, make your worst mistakes and die your most horrible deaths using something inexpensive.

There are two Caldari frigates that see regular use: The Griffin for ECM support, and the Merlin for tackling and solo work.

Here is a common Merlin fit. It does decent damage, has a good shield buffer (7.6k EHP), and in my opinion is just a feather's width away from the awesomeness of a Rifter. The only place it doesn't shine is speed and agility. Otherwise, for a frigate, it is very capable.

[Merlin, Blaster Buffer]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Damage Control II

Medium Shield Extender II
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Scrambler II
Stasis Webifier II

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Foxfire Rocket
Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S
Light Ion Blaster II, Caldari Navy Antimatter Charge S

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I

Make sure to carry some Null S ammunition in case you run across an enemy that is keeping his range.

Some people prefer to use autocannons and occasionally you will find someone using lasers (sometimes with a dual-web setup). There are pros and cons to each approach. I personally use blasters.

Flying super cheap? Have fitting issues? Consider using cheap warp scramblers, webs, shield extenders, and rockets instead of the T2 stuff. You may also want to exchange the extender rigs for another EM and a TH resistance rig. The blasters really should be T2 if you can manage because of the Null ammunition.

EVERY CALDARI PVP PILOT SHOULD TRAIN SOME ECM SKILLS, otherwise your friends will make fun of you. The Griffin is great for ECM support. It is very cheap and yet still effective. There's two common ways to fit the Griffin - Once of each racial jammer, or a microwarp drive and 3 racial jammers.

I personally prefer the MWD with 3 jammers; I tend to leave out either the Gallente or Amarr jammer because in my area I see those ships the least.

Once you are confident flying your frigates and aren't losing them like crazy, it's time to move up into cruisers. You have:

Moa: It's like a big Merlin and is, in my opinion, underrated. Again, blasters are most common, but you will also see people with ACs and Lasers.

Caracal: It is an incredible frigate murderer. It can also be fit with heavy missiles and EWar (TDs - your fleet will love you) for long range support.

Blackbird: The T1 ECM cruiser. Expect to be primaried often - if you can survive several gang fights in a Blackbird without dying then you are doing a very good job.

Note that RvB has a severe aversion to ECM, so ships like the Griffin and Blackbird will be off the menu for you.

I totally agree with Andrea!

To learn PvP you NEED to die alot. I can not underline this enough. The first bunch of deaths will most likely be really quick and painful, but each of them learns you a little bit more about basic mechanics.

The biggest lesson of them all however is to not be affraid to commit to a fight. FAR too many of the people claiming to have decent PvP experience hate the thought of losing their ship, resulting in hessitation during engagements which in the end will lead to bad positioning in a fight, or even friends abandoning eachother to die in a fight that could have been won, should everyone have commited fully.

It's an old cliché but really, never fly a ship that you would hate to lose because it would hurt your wallet to replace. You are of much more use in a t1 frigate/cruiser going into a fight like a maniac than a coward in a battlecruiser/hac/recon or whatever.

Once again, start out cheap, t1/meta fitted frigates and later on cruisers and enter a fight with the goal to fight until you die. Don't worry about killboard stats such as efficiency or k/d ratio, it's a fools numbers. Doing this is the best way to learn how to become a good PvPer, daring to try things and become better than the average F1 spammer.

The drake certainly is versatile, and for the fairly cheap price it's a solid investment. It's definitely the most widely used ship amongst Caldari pilots.

That being said, if you want something smaller but still cheap, the caracal can be a good starter ship. Frigates die quickly, but I guess the kestrel is pretty good. If you're looking into t2 ships though, the falcon is fun, but can be lost quickly with a small mistake. Other than that, t2 caldari cruisers aren't very good... unless you're playing a very specific role such as logi (basilisk) or tackle (onyx).

If you have some time, try heading over to Battleclinic and search some loadouts. Ask questions, learn, ignore the trolls or report them. :)

I just wanted to note that I didn't mention the Kestrel.

I personally do not like the rocket kestrel because:
A) Using a shield buffer, you only have two slots left for an AB and Scram. That leaves you with no web.
B) Using an armor buffer fit, you are very slow, have the agility of a slug, and your EHP is terrible.

That said, the Kestrel can put out some very nice damage that doesn't have to worry about tracking. The Merlin is just better as a general purpose PvP ship because of a combination of damage, buffer, and agility.

Here's the standard MSE fit:

[Kestrel, MSE]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Damage Control II

Medium Shield Extender II
Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Scrambler II

Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket
Rocket Launcher II, Caldari Navy Thorn Rocket

Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I
Small Core Defence Field Extender I

Some people fiddle with the rigs a bit to taste. If you're on the cheap, T1 damage control, T1 MSE, T1 warp scrambler, T1 rocket launchers. But, T2 rocket launchers are pretty inexpensive. Get them if you can. Carry a load of Rage in case you come across a cruiser-sized target.

I have managed to kill the occasional nubbin in a frigate with this but it doesn't pose a threat to an experienced pilot in one of the "good" frigates.

By the way... If you are in lowsec in a PvP Kestrel, rename your ship to "Cyno". They'll never see you coming.

With a bit of ingenuity, you can turn the Kestrel into the Poor Pilot's Crow:

[Kestrel, It Tackles]
Micro Auxiliary Power Core I
Damage Control II

Catalyzed Cold-Gas I Arcjet Thrusters
Warp Disruptor II
Medium Shield Extender II

[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]
[empty high slot]

Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Polycarbon Engine Housing I
Small Anti-EM Screen Reinforcer I

Again, T1 stuff works fine. If you are using a T1 point you may want to consider overloading it so that you can get the 24km point range. YOU DO HAVE THERMODYNAMICS TRAINED, RIGHT?

Be careful because the capacitor on this ship is terrible. You won't be able to stay on the field for very long (although you could, if you wanted, replace one or two rigs with CCCs or Semiconductors). The EM rig is on there because they're super cheap, but don't hesitate to replace it.

You can stick a standard launcher on there if you really want or a few rocket launchers, but there isn't much of a point in wasting the money. The role of this ship is to hold point for a bit.

If you like pointing people in a fleet and you somehow manage to survive with something like this, try out the Crow or the (C)Raptor for inty goodness.